SEATTLE In May 2018, a public meeting in a wealthy enclave of one of Americas most progressive cities devolved into a two-hour temper tantrum as longtime residents incensed about a proposed tax to fund homeless services shouted down its proponents.

Lies! the crowd bellowed as an attendee explained that the tax would be levied on corporations, not citizens. Shill! Plant! Phony! they shouted as another supporter spoke. Coward! a man yelled at a homeless woman as she took the microphone.

Kirsten Harris-Talley, the co-chair of Seattles Homelessness Task Force, had to pause to ask the increasingly unruly crowd to calm down: Can I finish what Im saying?

No! the audience chanted back.

Seattle is not the only city where locals are losing their minds over issues related to housing, zoning and transportation. Ugly public meetings are becoming increasingly common in cities across the country as residents frustrated by worsening traffic, dwindling parking and rising homelessness take up fierce opposition.

Last September, a community hearing over a proposed homeless shelter in Los Angeles had to be cut short after boos and jeering repeatedly interrupted speakers. Throughout 2018, public meetings in Minneapolis to discuss changing the citys residential zoning code erupted into shouts and insults from audience members. At a public meeting last August on homelessness in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, audience members chanted, Lock her up! at a female representative of the mayors office.

These scenes are usually sparked by projects or policy changes intended to address Americas worsening housing crisis. More than 200 American cities now have median home values above $1 million. The construction of new dwellings has lagged behind the number of new households eight years in a row. Both congestion and climate change are prompting many cities to explore expanding their public transportation networks.